Justice Long Deferred: The Reopening of the Raviraj Case
During the Sri Lankan civil war, the country was intermittently rocked by murder after murder, many of them of high profile politicians, activists, and journalists. Many of these numerous extrajudicial killings were never properly investigated by the Sri Lankan government, and remain unsolved to this day. Substantial allegations have been raised around a significant number of these cases that the government itself has been complicit in the killings, and in delaying investigations into the crimes.
The murder of Nadarajah Raviraj is one such case.
In November of 2006, three years before the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war, Raviraj was fatally shot while in his car near his home in Colombo. The shooters have never been conclusively identified. At the time of his death Raviraj was a Member of Parliament representing Jaffna district. He belonged to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a party which pushed for greater political autonomy for Sri Lankan Tamils. Raviraj, himself an attorney who specialized in human rights cases, was not just an outspoken voice against the violence inflicted by the government on Tamil civilians but also an advocate for cooperation among the country’s different ethnic groups.
An investigation into Raviraj’s killing was launched, but the government (then headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa) failed to conclusively find the killers or bring them to justice. The investigation occurred in the midst of spreading suspicions regarding the Sri Lankan government’s involvement in the killing. Then TNA leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan even directly accused the government of involvement in Raviraj’s death due to his criticism of the administration’s policies. These suspicions were strengthened by the fact that his assassination came on the heels of the killing of another TNA Member of Parliament, Joseph Pararajasingam, that same month. The Sri Lankan government, namely the Sri Lankan Army, was also suspected of involvement in Pararajasingam’s death.
The Raviraj case languished for many years, with the investigation effectively halted. However, in 2015, the case was brought into the spotlight again when President Maithripala Sirisena’s new government took power. It was reopened as part of a larger push to find justice for several high profile killings that took place when President Rajapaksa was in power. The new investigation pointed to the involvement of 6 men, who were convicted in November of 2016. Three of them were former members of the Sri Lankan Navy, one was a police officer, and two were former LTTE members.
The case went to trial in 2016 before the Colombo High Court. Witnesses testified that the Navy intelligence office had directly orchestrated Raviraj’s murder. Outside of the trial, an additional allegation was made before a Colombo Additional Magistrate that same year that the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had directly paid Raviraj’s murderers for his killing. While this charge was never prosecuted in court, it is indicative of the extent of the claims being made regarding the government’s involvement.
Despite the slew of accusations within and outside of court, all 6 men were eventually declared not guilty and released due to the Colombo High Court’s unwillingness to find them guilty solely on the basis of witness identification. This ruling was a unanimous decision, but in a highly irregular fashion was released just after midnight. Further scrutinized was the fact that the trial was decided by jury (especially a jury composed entirely of Sinhala speakers) in the first place, despite the fact that several of the charges made in the case fell under the purview of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which requires a trial by judge.
The case appeared to be settled for good, until March 2026. After a decade, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgement of the Colombo High Court regarding the acquittal of the suspects in relation to this case. The courts ordered that a fresh trial be conducted, revisiting the original direction made by the Attorney General, on the grounds that the original trial suffered from multiple serious procedural issues. In particular, the Court of Appeal ruled that the High Court Judge had failed to properly direct the jury on the value of certain witnesses. While it is promising that the case is being reopened, only time will tell if the perpetrators of this two decade old murder will finally receive justice. Given the case’s history it is crucial that an eye be kept on the new trial’s proceedings to ensure that the judicial process is finally allowed to properly run its course.
References:
https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/remembering-raviraj-15-years-and-still-no-justice
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38426020
https://noolaham.net/project/37/3666/3666.pdf
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/cid-files-case-against-raviraj-killers/
https://www.gulf-times.com/story/461535/Six-charged-for-murder-of-Tamil-lawmaker-in-2006
https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/gotabhaya-payed-assassination-tamil-mp-says-witness